hai guiz, since i love most of you and have interest in your team, I think there's some reason for you guys to be optimistic! (well, an outsiders view)

CJ can have those games, if you guys focus on the OL, you could form an awesome O. Britt is a sex muffin, no doubt. Clear cut #1. Washington's a solid vet, and Wright has potential to form a deadly WR corps. Cook is sweet, too under-rated, I'm a big fan of his. That's a lot of weapons for you guys and I'm a big Locker believer.

I'll admit, I don't know much about your D, except it always help to have a shut down CB in McCourtysex. Keep your heads up because I love you guys

__________________We ALL bleed scarlet New York Giants Super Bowl 46 Champs
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Quote:

Originally Posted by PalmerToCJ

BTW, if it's 3rd and 97... I'm throwing a screen pass to Brian Leonard and he will convert.

Seriously questioning Gray myself, although the defense played well for stretches today. There are pieces there to work with, but there are also gaping holes like safety, pass rush, and DL, LB, and CB depth.

Derrick Morgan makes a ton of plays against the run and seems to come off of blocks extremely well, but he also always seems a step late on his pass rush. Every time it looks like he's about to get there, the QB releases the ball. I don't think he'll ever be more than a 6-8 sack per year type guy, which may be ok for a base 43 LE. But with that, we need a serious threat on the other side, and I just haven't seen Wimbley get it done consistently. We also need another stud inside that can blow up blocking schemes. Jurrell Casey is an animal against the run, and Marks is pretty active himself, but it's clear when they're not in the game. We need someone that can come in and have no drop off, or someone that will allow Marks to be the 3rd DT.

Zac Diles should never be in a game. Zach Brown hasn't shown anything yet really, but it's too early to write him off. KBull didn't do much his first couple years either. Ayers and McCarthy are both studs in my opinion, although McCarthy's injury history is very worrisome.

Griff is terrible, Babs is nothing special, RoJo is awful. We need some new blood at safety bad, but we just extended Griff so...whatever.

There is a noticeable dropoff in McCourty's play this year, but he's shown to be a good player before, I have faith he can turn it around. Verner is solid as usual, but it probably wouldn't hurt to keep adding more talent here.

My Quarter Season Position-By-Position BreakdownQuarterback
- Jake Locker has been pretty impressive so far. Up until today's game he was our biggest threat on the ground as well. I think the team really responds to his energy and all-around ability. He has a strong arm, which we all knew, but he's also been pretty good with his accuracy. He still needs works here though, because he occasionally still misses high. That should come with time. Now we just need to keep him healthy the rest of the way.
- Matt Hasselbeck is what he is. He's not gonna destroy anyone with arm strength or mobility. But he's a veteran with an understanding of the offense and what the team wants to do when he is in. He didn't look too sharp today, but hopefully that was an aberration. From what it sounds like, he's going to have to prove himself some more before Locker gets back. His spot with the team will probably need to be reevaluated in the offseason.
- Rusty Smith had a decent preseason. I guess he's worth keeping around as a three. But I wouldn't be comfortable with him being our #2 for a full season.Runningback
- Chris Johnson has missed some holes, he's not run as hard as he should sometimes, and he's tried to force it some as well. But to be honest, I think he's still got what it takes to be a 1200 yard back in this league. He's been better each week, and today's game showed that if the line blocks for him he can still be a good #1. Let's hope he keeps up the progress. We really need him.
- Darius Reynaud hasn't really had the opportunity to shine yet in the running game. I think he has some value as a 3rd down back in the future but we'll have to see as we go the rest of the way this season. He was obviously kept on the roster for his kick return ability. This paid off for us huge in the Lions game. He still has some work to do. He needs to play a bit smarter and be more patient, though.
- Javon Ringer has been out with an elbow infection. I think he's replaceable after this season.
- Jamie Harper hasn't really shown much this season and I'm not sure he'll get much of a chance. I feel like he's replaceable after this season like Ringer. I wouldn't keep both going forward after this season. I really love me some Stepfan Taylor of Stanford.
- Quinn Johnson just sucks. There. I said it. We need to draft a good, young fullback this offseason. I'd love to take Zach Line in the 4th round of the draft if need be.Wide Receiver
- Kenny Britt's season has been disappointing so far. Dude just needs to stay healthy. It would be nice to see what this team could do on offense with him at full speed.
- Can't complain much about Nate Washington. He seems to have picked up right were he left off last season. Very good and steady number two target.
- Kendall Wright has been a mixed bag so far. He's been mainly used on short routes with the hope that his playmaking ability would allow him to get YAC. But at this point his YPC isn't very good. He had a pretty bad game today. I know it's not fair to hold it against him, but unless he turns out to be the next Steve Smith, I'm probably always going to wish we had taken DeCastro instead.
- Damian Williams needs to play harder. Not sure he's always going 100% out there and he might have regressed a bit after last season. Maybe drafting Wright kind of messed with his head a bit?
- Lavelle Hawkins hasn't done much, but hasn't really had a chance to do much either.Tight End
- Jared Cook has been very good so far. Glad he's finally playing up to his potential. He should see a nice new contract this offseason.
- Craig Stevens has been a revelation. He's always been a good blocker, but now he's carving a niche as a receiver. He's never been a bad receiver per se, but this year he seems to have really stepped up his game in the receiving department and he's made some clutch plays.
- Taylor Thompson has literally done nothing positive up to this point. I know he's raw, but he's gotta start showing something soon hopefully.Offensive Line
- Whelp, up until today they've been miserable at run blocking and great at pass blocking. Today they became Mr. Hyde and opened great holes for CJ, but they also got our QB killed. In the offseason that whole interior needs to be re-tooled. I don't think the FO will be able to brush that area of the team off so easily this year.Defensive Line
This group is just not getting to the quarterback at all. Not just sacks, but pressures or hands in throwing lanes as well. We could really use a big difference maker in the middle and on the edge (most teams could I guess). I'd love to see us explore our options here in the offseason in FA and early in the draft. Derrick Morgan is probably better off coming off the bench and the same could be said for Sen'Derrick Marks. Not sure the team will re-sign Marks though. Jurrell Casey is getting there. Linebackers
- It's a bummer Colin McCarthy is hurt. I hope he's back next week and finishes out the season strong. Not only is he a stud, but he's also our defensive leader. We need him out there.
- Akeem Ayers seems to be well on his way to studliness. He can still make a bone headed play here and there (Detroit Lions hail mary anyone?), but he's a difference maker. I wish he would be used to blitz more often.
- Zach Brown hasn't shown his hand yet but we need him to come through in a big way. He was drafted to be our coverage linebacker and that might be our team's biggest need right now. Tight ends just have field days on us without much resistance from our D.
- This will probably be Witherspoon's last year with us. We need depth here. Diles is no solution to our problems and McRath can't seem to stay on the field. Shaw and Bailey seem like nothing more than special teams fodder.Cornerback
- Jason McCourty has been disappointing a little bit so far. He probably could use some help from the safeties and front four, but I'm starting to wonder if he might be better off as a #2. If only we had kept Finnegan instead of Griffin. *sighs*
- Verner has been solid as usual. He's probably better suited for the slot, but he's our second best option on the outside right now.
- Please don't get me started on Mouton. Dude should have been cut literally years ago. Actually, he never should have been drafted. Sure would be nice to have D.J. Moore instead, right TH?
- I'm surprised Tommie Campbell hasn't gotten more of a shot to this point. I honestly thought he'd get some outside work in nickel situations but that hasn't happened yet. He's got too much potential to be rotting away on the bench.
- Sensabaugh should get a shot down the road. Not much to see here right now.Safety
- Our safeties blow. Not one of them should probably be on the roster, let alone actually starting. I guess we're stuck with Griffin for a while so we should probably just try to add pass rush and a studly SS somewhere to help hide his deficiencies. That won't be easy though, because that's pretty much every facet of the game on defense.
- Robert Johnson is useless. Please cut him before I finish typing this post.
- Jordan Babineaux just a stop-gap. But I still don't understand at all why he was benched in favor of Johnson. He'll be gone after this season and hopefully we can grab one of Eric Reid, T.J. McDonald, or Robert Lester to fill his shoes.
- Markelle Martin has been on the PUP so far. Hopefully he'll get a fair shake when he returns. He can't be any worse than what's seen the field up until now.Special Teams
- Bironas and Kern are great. Nothing to worry about here unless we don't re-sign Bironas. That would be dumb.
- The new long snapper hasn't screwed up yet and that's about all you can ask from a long snapper.

Overall I'm really looking forward to an active offseason. FB, OG, OC, DE, DT, and Safety should all see significant movement. And then depth at a couple of other positions needs to be addressed as well.

As far as the rest of the season is concerned, I'm not too optimistic. I think we'll finish 5-11. Maybe 6-10 at best. We should most likely be picking anywhere between 5-10 at the top of the 1st round. I hope we consider trading down a little and picking up another premium pick in the process.

As far as coaching goes, Jerry Gray should be on the hot seat the rest of the season. His play calling leaves a lot to be desired and I'm not so sure he couldn't be easily upgraded. Other than him the rest of the coaches should be safe for another season barring something pretty unseen.

Agreed with basically everything. I think everyone wants us to use Ayers to help with the pass rush more, but they just never send him and it's puzzling. At one point during the broadcast, they quoted Munchak as saying that he has "a special untapped ability to get after the QB."

Honestly though, with the injury to McCarthy and with Brown apparently not ready to play with the big boys, Ayers is really the only one we can trust to fill the traditional linebacker role on every down. I think the hope is that Brown turns into a great coverage and chase nickel LB, and get McCarthy back on the field, which would free Ayers up for more rush opportunities.

At least that makes sense in my head. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the reason for it was that our defensive staff is just clueless though. It would certainly explain some of the other head scratchers that we see on a weekly basis.

I missed the game today, so I can't critique his most recent performance, but on the season, it's been hard to get a read on Gray.

It frustrates me that he doesn't apply pressure when the defensive line isn't generating anything. We rely on the front 4 to pressure the QB, but when they struggle to do so, it's like banging your head against a break wall repeatedly. Washburn would have them stunt (which is why I loved Derrick Morgan to us, since he was great at that at GaTech), or they'd send a DB in on a blitz. We have a great blitzing LB in Ayers, a lightning quick LB in Zach Brown, a freak DB in Tommie Campbell, a DE who can drop into coverage in Wimbley, a DE who can stunt inside in Morgan, and two safeties who do no good in coverage so you might as well launch them at the QB. If you have options and players to go to when you find yourself in a situation, why don't you utilize them?

But then again, I don't think Gray has the horses to work with yet. The fan base hated Jim Schwartz until the 2007 season, and then all of the sudden he was a great DC when he finally had players like Haynesworth, KVB, Bulluck, Finny, Thornton, Hope, Griffin, and quality depth. Gray just doesn't have those studs yet, and he certainly doesn't have the depth.

As of right now, I'm fine with going into next season with him. Lets see what happens in the offseason. Hopefully they use FA to infuse some veteran talent into this defense and give Gray more to work with, and in the draft, go after interior OL, DL, and DB's.

The fan base hated Jim Schwartz until the 2007 season, and then all of the sudden he was a great DC when he finally had players like Haynesworth, KVB, Bulluck, Finny, Thornton, Hope, Griffin, and quality depth.

I coulda been a great DC with those guys lol. It looked to me that Gray showed more last year, not so this year. He is looking like Shwartz when our D was bad. Throw out the same vanilla 4 man rush, same vanilla coverages, then let's get destroyed! Yay!

No doubt we need some more talent, but I'm thinking neither of our cooridantors is gonna be the main reasons our defense or offense thrive.

I heard that Sylvester Stallone wrote The Expendables with The Alex in mind. He had to keep it realistic though and split The Alex's abilities into multiple characters. Stallone thought that critics would pan it for being too far-fetched if he just had one character effing everyone up.

I just cut Rob Bironas for Greg Zuerlein in my fantasy league. I've drafted Bironas every year since 2007 and this is literally the first time I've ever cut him. Does this make me a bad fan?

I also have Jake Locker and Kendall Wright on my bench if that makes up for it.

__________________

Quote:

Originally Posted by phlysac

I heard that Sylvester Stallone wrote The Expendables with The Alex in mind. He had to keep it realistic though and split The Alex's abilities into multiple characters. Stallone thought that critics would pan it for being too far-fetched if he just had one character effing everyone up.

And when you walk into that stadium you better be carrying a sign that says, "Bills fans know damn well it was a lateral."

Lmao! But people will still argue that to this day. The NFL went out of their way to have the play reviewed with computer enhancements to prove it was not a forward pass. That one angle we always see on replayed on tv almost looks forward, but it's not. It's about as perfect as a pass can be to being parallel to the yard markers.

That would give us a 7-9 record, which I think is pretty realistic. (I think we're 5-11 in our worst-case scenario and probably 8-8 in our best-case scenario.) What sucks is that this record will not be good enough for us to make the playoffs; but it'll be too good to allow us to get an immediate difference-maker in the draft.

Maybe. But there seems to be at least one game every year that we win that we probably shouldn't win (and vice-versa). I think the Bears could be that game this year -- simply because Cutler is so inconsistent from week to week.

I think we sweep the Jags, who are probably even worse than us on offense. I think we split with the Colts, who are better than anyone could've expected thus far in their rebuilding year. I think the Bills game could go either way, but I'll give us the edge because Fitzpatrick is also really inconsistent at QB and they don't seem to be able to stop anyone on DEF. I think we'd probably lose to the Jets if we played them right now; but they're starting to fall apart with injuries and with mismanagement. By the time we play them at the end of the season, they should be in full disaster mode -- making them a possible win for us. All in all, that gives us 7 potential wins, which is more than we probably deserve given our performance so far.

With it looking like McCarthy will be back for the Vikings game, this weekend will mark the first time this season that all of our defensive starters will be playing.

It'll be interesting to watch this weekend. With Hass starting, and our actual defense taking the field, it may feel like watching a completely different team. Whether that will translate into improvement, I'm not sure. One thing I know is no one's sleeping on the Vikings anymore. The Titans should be the one going into the game with a chip on their shoulder, and not the other way around.

I think we could surprise the Vikings. They haven't played the other afc south teams very well so far. But, I'll still take the Vikes in a close one. We don't have much luck up there. Not as bad of luck as we have in SD, but still pretty poor.

I heard that Sylvester Stallone wrote The Expendables with The Alex in mind. He had to keep it realistic though and split The Alex's abilities into multiple characters. Stallone thought that critics would pan it for being too far-fetched if he just had one character effing everyone up.